I Get Up Friday Morning

Hey you want to go?
Don't think I'm heading that way
For sure not with you.

Saw Spiderman 3
Before the US release
Take that Davey-boy.

No room to complain
Sure some things could be better
Yet they could be worse.

A broken hard drive
Better than a broken heart
Easier to fix.

Currently listening to: Snow Patrol - Signal Fire (As Featured In "Spider-Man 3"

Crash Boom Bang

It is every nerds nightmare. No, not the one about Lucas releasing another set of Star Wars movies with Jar Jar as the main character. The one I am talking about is the moment that your computer crashes while you helplessly watch. This unfortunate moment happened to me around 1:40 Saturday morning. I was sending out some emails, chatting with a friend, and watching a little online television, when the dang thing froze up. It then had the courage to tell me that it was going to begin dumping the physical memory. What?? I quickly unplugged my external drive which houses my music collection, and prepared for a quick reboot. Boy was I wrong. Upon trying to restart it, I heard horrible sounds. Then I began seeing messages like, "disk error," "disk failure eminent," and "say goodbye to all your data sucker." I was expecting the voice of HAL to resonate from the speakers just to mock me.

I now can only wait to see if the fine repair people can salvage anything. If not, I will lose a lot of photos, the latest version of my website, a good amount of writings, and who knows what else. I really need to learn to back stuff up.

And the kicker is now I am using my eight year old laptop to get stuff done. The one I kept mostly because I couldn't get much for it on eBay. Now it sits, probably mocking the newer model. It knows that even though it only has a tenth of the storage, it is working as more than a paperweight right now.

Currently reading:

Got That Friday Night Fever

Sure they got money
But they lose the adventure
This train is for wimps!

All my post's titles
Lyrics from some random song
Dang I'm a real nerd.

Found a Polaroid
Of a soft ice cream machine
and slushee maker

One more birthday gone
Now turn down that dang music
and get off my yard.

Currently listening to: Fair -

Paddling In His Canoe

The theme at PhotoFriday this week is "Relaxation." Sometimes there is nothing greater than a canoe, a calm lake, and no schedule telling you when to return.



Currently listening to: Hayden -

If You Don't Die In Glory

I just survived another trip around the sun. To be honest, there were two specific times when I did not think I would be celebrating that simple accomplishment.

Wow. What a year it has been. It could be just the memory starting to fail, but this last year is very well the best year that I have experienced. A brief recap: I had the chance to spend time with some amazing people on three different continents. I traveled thousands of miles by trains, planes, and automobiles, not to mention camels and horses. I watched the sun rise and set over mountains , deserts, big cities and forests. I had conversations with rock stars and orphans. I dined in fancy restaurants and around a campfire by a lake. I entered six countries for the first time, and even return a second time to one of them. Heck, I was even taken into custody by members of a communist military.

The best part is that I love my job, which allows me to work with some great students. Tonight they sang "Happy Birthday," with so much enthusiasm I almost wept. It ties the HBR boys of old for the spot of favorite times I've heard that song directed at me. It was the best part of this birthday.

Here is a little photo collage of some of the highlights of the year. Thanks to all who have played a part in making this a good one.
Here are links to each of the photos: 1. We Drink This Three Times, 2. Hanging Out On Top, 3. Close That Mouth, 4. Shameless Promotion, 5. Sunset At The Fishing Hole, 6. Joey Burns, 7. Super Anter Fistigi, 8. Escaping?, 9. In The Middle Of The Lake, 10. Reading Ephesians In Ephesus, 11. Uggg, Sweaty Pits, 12. The Trip Draws To An End, 13. Takin' Up Too Much Of The Picture, 14. Make A Wish, 15. IMG_7505, 16. From Asia to Europe, 17. View from the ride, 18. The Adventure Begins, 19. Table View, 20. Whatcha taking a photo for?, 21. Aim A Little Higher, 22. My Former Neighbors, 23. Mittlere Brücke, 24. Proving I Was There, 25. Head Trauma, 26. Dive Flag, 27. The RAs, 28. I Don't Want To Smile, 29. We're not alone, 30. Kebap Time, 31. Swiss Drummers, 32. Mustaches, 33. Lions, 34. Riding Off Into The Sunset, 35. Unlicensed Guides, 36. The Long Lonely Walk

Dang this really has been a fun three hundred and sixty five days. It will be tough to top this one, but I am going to try.

Currently listening to: David Wilcox - "Glory"

Give The Past The Slip

I have become addicted to Flickr and Youtube lately. There is something about tossing a bunch of photos and videos online that is appealing to the nerd in me. The last couple days I have been going through some old folders looking for cool stuff to toss up. In that process I came across this video. It is from the Freiburg Christmas Market from a few years back. I was filming a parade when all of sudden it stopped. Trapped against a wall, I could only film this guy and his whip. I was to oblivious to how close I was to some severe pain from that whip.

Currently listening to: Devo - "Whip It"

After Midnight

A few minutes late
But it's Friday somewhere, right?
So it is still good.

I almost forgot
So these are made on the fly
And won't be that good.

Forget the V8
A strawberry daiquiri
Is now a health drink.

The above haiku
Was written for the news part
Not to promote drinks.

A new restaurant
At least new to those I know
And man it was good.

She once sang Cordell
When she was a Cranberry
Now she's gone solo.

Currently listening to: Stereophonics - "Long Way Round"